"Don't come looking for me,
I don't wanna be found,
I just wanna be free."
....
"Adora, Debbie's on the phone." Dodge held the portable phone out towards her as she sat on the couch. Iain and her mother had gone on the hunt for security cameras and Adora frowned as she took the phone from her cousin.
"Hello?"
"Adora, look, I know a lot has gone down, but I was speaking to Tom earlier, and I have thought about something he said." Debbie started and Adora could hear the reluctance in her voice.
"What's that?" Adora asked quietly.
"Tom asked me to go to Ritchieville, because they're all being questioned about the death."
"Yea?" Adora closed her eyes, trying not to think of how Will had been waiting for her when she got home two days ago.
"Tom asked, if I could see if you wanted to come with me."
"What?" Her eyes opened to a frown. Why was Debbie asking for her to go to Ritchieville for Tom?
"For Marti and Will."
Adora's lips parted and she felt her shoulders sagging against the couch. They were going to be questioned about Elissa's murder, their runaway best friend and girlfriend. "I don't know if it's a good idea for me to go there."
"Adora, I know we aren't really friends anymore, but I know you are a good friend when shit hits the fan." Debbie was struggling to get the words out. "Marti and Will need someone like you right now. Could you imagine how you'd feel if you had been questioned about Brett's attack?"
Her stomach dropped and she felt her voice catch in her throat.
Her eyes began to burn at the thought of even being asked for an alibi over Brett's attack.
"Adora?"
She took a shaky breath in and went cold as she shuddered it out. "When do you want to leave?"
"I can come by in half an hour? It's a long trip, but Mum's happy to loan me the car for a day or two. I don't know where we'll stay, Tom was waiting for Marti and Will when we spoke. We didn't really get that far."
Adora closed her eyes and tried to fight the dizziness sneaking in. "We'll figure it out." She whispered. "I'll pack a bag and see you in thirty."
Dodge frowned as Adora lowered the phone. "What are you doing?"
"Debbie is going to Ritchieville, I'm going with her."
"What?" Dodge tilted his head expectantly.
A half smile turned her lips up and she tried not to think of how fatherly his reaction was. "Will and Marti are being questioned about the murder of their best friend."
"Yes, the girl who was found taped up in a hole, much like that doll yesterday. Right?"
Everything froze around her, and inside her.
She was back on the front porch, staring at the taped doll inside the beautiful box.
"Adora?"
Was it a warning?
Had her stalker actually followed the Taylors?
Was her stalker the person who had murdered Elissa?
"Adora?" Dodge put his hands on her shoulders and gave her a gentle shake.
She forced another breath through her body and felt her face pinching.
Was it a Taylor as the police were trying to find out in their old home town?
No.
None of the Taylors were murderers, Marti and Will had loved Elissa, they were kind and caring, soft and gentle people. They wouldn't hurt someone they loved.
But what about Tom?
His car had been the weapon against Brett, and he had been questioned.
She looked at the phone still in her hand. Debbie had provided him his alibi when he had forgotten, but had Debbie been telling the truth?
"I don't know what to do." Adora looked into her cousin's eyes and shuddered. "I want to be there for them. I really do. I mean, imagine being suspected of hurting someone you love. They wouldn't."
Dodge sat on the couch beside her and sighed. "Adora, I don't know what to tell you, I don't think they would hurt anyone either, but the fact is that doll..."
"I know." Adora tried to imagine travelling hours in a car with Debbie, she tried to imagine being in Ritchieville with Marti and Will as they had to deal with Elissa's death.
That doll was terrifying.
Would she be safer away from Wheeler Falls?
Her stalker knew where she lived, but was he still there watching?
"I want to go."
"Your mother will kill me." Dodge said softly.
"Come with us?" She asked with a crooked smile.
She watched him think about it, today was a public holiday, there was no school to miss out on, but classes would be back the next day, and if they went to Ritchieville, they wouldn't be coming home before school started.
"Do you still trust Debbie? Feel safe at the idea of being alone with her?" He raised his eyebrows.
"Yea." Adora thought about it before she nodded. "I do."
"I'm going to be a dead man." Dodge's shoulders slumped. "Come on, we'll sort a bag out and I want to make sure you have somewhere to go before you leave."
Debbie sat in her car for a few minutes as she stared at Edgar's Escape and the engine cooled.
She was sure she was doing the right thing, bringing Adora to help the other Taylor's grieve while she was with Tom, but that didn't mean she wasn't dreading the hours in her car.
She wiped her face and got out of the car.
Dodge met her at the door and took her into the kitchen.
"Debbie, I know you and Adora aren't really friends anymore, but I know you still care, so I'm going to let you in on what's happened."
Debbie frowned at her principal. "What are you talking about?"
"You probably know about the first card Adora got after Brett was attacked?"
"Kind of." Debbie remembered things she had said to Tom after she had met him at the station.
"She received a doll this weekend. Taped up like this girl in Ritchieville."
Her lips parted and she looked around the kitchen as if she was expecting Adora to pop up and laugh about some kind of joke.
"I don't know the Taylors as well as I'd like to, what I do know of them doesn't match with stalking behaviour." Dodge forced her to meet his eyes. "I'm hoping I can count on you to try and help me figure out if it's a Taylor or some other stranger we don't know trying to scare her."
"Me?" Debbie was taken aback. "How am I meant to..."
"You're dating Tom, you'll be there and be able to see all of the Taylors around her."
He wanted her to spy on them and see if they were dangerous.
How on Earth was she meant to figure that out?
"I've booked a twin room for the two of you at the Ritchieville Hotel, please drive carefully and check in with me. A lot."
He was absolutely serious.
"Yea, OK." It was all Debbie could manage as she heard feet coming down the stairs. Moment's later Adora entered the kitchen with a backpack slung over one shoulder.
"Hey, Debbie." She said quietly.
Debbie swallowed as she looked at her ex-best friend and forced a smile. "Let's go."
Adora nodded and Dodge walked them to the front porch, and watched them leave.
Debbie drove in silence, her stomach churning as she tried to focus on the roads ahead. She'd only had her P plates for a few months, but she had driven many hours over summer.
"Can we turn the music down a little?" Adora asked when they left the Ocean Highway for the city freeways.
Debbie pushed a button on the steering wheel and the music volume lowered. She clenched the steering wheel as she saw Adora rubbing her forehead and staring out of the window.
"Adora, can I ask you something?" Debbie finally found her voice. It was shakier than she would have liked, but at least it was there.
"What?"
Debbie bit her lip as she tried to figure out how to word the question gently.
She took a deep breath in and glanced at Adora. "Did you really try and kill yourself when you passed out at school that time?"
Adora shifted in the passenger seat and Debbie saw her hands start to knot in her lap. "No. I didn't mean..."
"I really tried to be there for you, you know?" Debbie felt her face pinching as she stared ahead.
"I didn't try to kill myself."
"But all the cuts we found..." Debbie remembered finding out about Adora's depression from someone else, the tight feeling in her chest returned as if it was happening all over again.
"I was just trying to deal with things I didn't know how to deal with." Adora said quietly.
"And the weight loss?"
"Debbie, I hadn't been hungry. Every time I ate I felt sick because I didn't know how to grieve."
Debbie looked at Adora. "Why didn't you talk to me?"
"Debbie, watch the road. Please?"
"Answer me. We were best friends, why didn't you talk to me?" Finally Debbie felt all the anger seeping into her words.
The falling apart of their friendship had been due to silence from Adora. Debbie hadn't understood, she still didn't understand, but for some reason now she wanted to.
"I didn't know how to." Adora's voice was loud and shaky. "I couldn't speak to anyone then Debbie."
"I wanted to be there for you, so badly. I just..." Debbie felt her eyes stinging as she thought about the times they had lost. Adora really had been her best friend, like her sister for the whole time they'd been friends. Even if Debbie was a year ahead of Adora. "I didn't know how either."
She remembered the fear when she found out Adora had been taken to hospital, the anger that they'd found cuts on her arms, thinking Adora had tried to kill herself and leave her.
She wiped at her face. "If you had just told me..."
She saw Adora looked at her from the corner of her eyes. "Deb, can we pull over please?"
Debbie sniffed and started to look for a spot on the side of the road. Moments later when she had put the car in park and stopped driving she felt her arms trembling.
Had she really repressed all this betrayal inside all this time? Had she barked out at Adora from hurt instead of hatred?
They sat in silence for a few moments.
"I'm sorry." Adora wiped at her own face and Debbie forced herself to look at her old friend. "I didn't mean to push anyone away then, I was just so lost."
Debbie bit the inside of her cheek and felt her chest tightening. "I missed you. I was so scared when Brett told me what happened, and so angry that you didn't tell me."
"I didn't tell anyone, Debbie."
"You said, that doesn't make it hurt any less."
Adora looked at her hands.
"This stalking stuff is serious isn't it?" Debbie broke the silence and Adora looked up at her gaping. "Dodge told me about the doll..."
Debbie watched Adora swallow a lump and nod before she looked at her hands again.
Debbie took a deep breath. "I'm sorry for being a bitch, and the rumours..."
She felt a hand on her arm.
"I'm sorry, I didn't tell you then. I didn't tell anyone, it wasn't you, it was me."
Debbie looked from Adora's white hand to her face. Guilt filled her insides.
"I'm sorry too. We fucked up when we really should have pulled together."
Adora just nodded.
Debbie wiped her face and let go of another long breath. "Alright, let's get back on the road."
Adora's hand left her arm and she clenched the steering wheel again, letting the reality of danger sink into her stomach.